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Back in the spring, T-Mobile announced it was killing its entry-level Sidekick model, the iD. Well, it appears the carrier's had a change of heart or, at least, a need to get rid of excessive leftover inventory.

You now pick up a Sidekick iD for the $49.95 after a $200 Web-only discount, only $50 less than you could buy the smartphone when T-Mobile first discontinued it back in April. By contrast, T-Mobile's latest full-featured Sidekick model, simply called the Sidekick, goes for $100 more. You get a lot more for that extra hundred bucks, though.

You see, while the Sidekick iD takes the same form factor as other Sidekicks, it loses a number of important features to reach a price point to go with its entry-level status. These include a camera, Bluetooth, music playback, EDGE data support, and a memory card slot.

As with other Sidekick models, the Sidekick iD sports the series of smartphones' signature large swivel screen that reveals a QWERTY thumb-keyboard when open. And, it wouldn't be a Sidekick - even a basic one - without a multiple messaging options. These include e-mail, text messaging and instant messaging (AIM, Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger).

The T-Mobile Sidekick iD supports T-Mobile’s myFaves feature, which allows users to customize the device's home screen with images of the five people they call most often. There are a variety of myFaves plans, all of which feature unlimited calling to those designated people.